Indian Oil and Celanese sign MoU

State-owned oil and gas corporation Indian Oil and technology company Celanese have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the potential of a joint investment in an ethanol plant to be built in India.

The project, which is expected to be located in Paradip in the state of Odisha, will be based on TCX technology from Celanese. It will utilise petroleum coke (petcoke) from Indian Oil's refineries as the key feedstock. Other potential locations will also be investigated.

The potential investment would create an additional revenue stream by converting petcoke, a by-product of the refining process, into a low-cost, high-octane ethanol and potentially other co-product petrochemical derivatives.